Considers words originating from the English word "bamboo" borrowed into Indigenous languages of northern Australia denoting the dijeridu or other aerophones. The available data is organised in support of a hypothesised spread in which the word was applied to the aerophone made from bamboo and then to similar aerophones made of other wood. "Bamboo" as "pampu" spread inland southwards and eastwards to western Cape York Peninsula. In western Cape York Peninsula the word lost the final vowel, and in this form was borrowed southwards and applied to the particular aerophone the "emu caller", used to attract the emu. A comparable distribution is collated for an Indigenous word denoting aerophones : kurlumpu (rr) and corresponding forms in various north Australian languages. The study demonstrates how some etymological progress can be made on loanwords in languages with only a recent documentary record